We currently have collection boxes on the self registration tables in the main corridor for monetary donations so that we can buy gifts for children and young people who may not get anything for Christmas this year. It has been a success in previous years and the nursery children and parents  have collected a lot of money and contributed some lovely gifts to the appeal. We are grateful for any donations no matter how small as it all adds up to allow us to purchase some lovely gifts,  in particular gifts for teenage boys.

This week we are going to be finishing off some of the things we didn’t get completed last week, like working in small groups to create some nonsense endings to nursery rhymes just for fun, also working on the children’s learning journeys and target books, and continuing with some ideas we have newly introduced to the nursery. If you hear the children mention “Brain gym” and “Playdough Disco, ” we are introducing some whole body and hand exercises to wake up their brains and their fingers ready for tackling the day ahead . . . and they love it. Here are some photos of the children taking part in these activities, we will post more as they get more  confident in the activities and what is being asked of them.

Dough Disco involves using playdough to exercise the muscles in your hands and  fingers . . . to very up beat music!

One of the exercises involved in our brain gym . . standing back to back and passing a ball to your partner . . crossing the midline of your body to wake up both sides of your brain . .harder than it looks and sounds!

We are also following a range of interests initiated by the children and the books showing these can be seen in the nursery. We are currently working on “Babies”, “Fixing Things”, “Planting seeds” and “Playdough Kitchen”. We are interested to see how these ideas develop.

World Nursery Rhyme Week

This week the children are enjoying learning nursery rhymes. They have received a nursery rhyme colouring book to take home and the parents have got a little quiz to test their memories  . . . . no cheating!!

The focus rhymes this week are;

Monday – Miss Polly Had a dolly

Tuesday – Ring a Ring o’ Rosies

Wednesday – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Once I caught a Fish Alive)

Thursday – Horsie Horsie

Friday – The Grand Old Duke of York

The children are taking part in group art work and listening to and telling us nursery rhymes.  We will be listening closely to the end rhyming sentences to see if we can hear the rhyming words.They will be completing a group activity of making up nonsense rhymes and finishing off well known rhymes with nonsense words.

“Question of the week” has changed to “Question of the Day” with a choice of nursery rhymes for the children to choose their preference – do they know the rhymes on the wall?  Do you know the rhymes on the wall?

On Friday it is Children in Need, so the children are welcome to come either in something spotty or in Nursery Rhyme Fancy dress . . do they know the rhyme they are dressed up as a character from? 50p donation to Children in Need.

A fun and busy week ahead!

This week we are looking at fireworks and the children will be using different forms of painting to create firework pictures and using cutting and sticking skills to create a firework to add to the painted background. They will also be discussing their own experiences of fireworks and telling a scribed story to add to their pictures.

We are also working with Polly Cheer, Early Years Partnership Officer, on evaluating the benefits of discussing SHANARRI and the Wellbeing Indicators with children and showing them how they are included in their daily life at nursery and school. We will be discussing the indicators and what they mean, and getting the children’s views and opinions on them and playing a paper game, which parents will be receiving home shortly to also play and discuss with their children and to get to know the wellbeing indicators themselves. We are currently developing a SHANARRI  display in the main corridor which explains and highlights what is expected of the children during the Early stage (ante-preschool to the end of P1) .

We are shortly hoping to start taking very small groups of children out to do some snack shopping every week in Lidl which will involve them making choices and using money in a real life situation.

Here is a copy of the nursery newsletter that went out on the last day of term, apologies for anyone who hasn’t yet received it, a copy will be waiting for you on your child’s return to nursery on Monday 26th October.

Dear Parent/Carer,

After the holidays our first learning context of the term will be Autumn and Autumn festivals, to include Bonfire night and Halloween. As part of this we are going to be having a Halloween party and some fun activities as part of the session on Friday 30^th October (first week back). Feel free to allow your child to come dressed up in a costume on that day if they wish. After the holidays we will hopefully be including an Autumn Walk and a visit to the library as part of our learning experiences, dates to be confirmed, so we will be looking for some parent helpers to accompany us on these. A letter will be going out regarding dates and times.

Also after the holidays we are starting a parent suggestion box system which will be located outside the main nursery door on the table. The system will involve 3 boxes, “Start”, “Stop”, and “Keep, ” allowing parents and carers to put in suggestions of things you would like us to consider starting to do, things that you would like us to consider not doing any more and things you are happy with and wish us to continue doing. If you would like us to get back to you on your suggestions, please feel free to include your name with your suggestion.

On November 9^th – 13^th we have registered to take part in World Nursery Rhyme week. We will be immersing ourselves in everything to do with literacy and rhymes and we will have a few specific ones for the children to listen to and learn as part of the programme for the week . . . . . and possibly a dress up day just for fun at the end of the week. How many nursery rhymes can you remember from your childhood? Maybe you could write down your favourites for the children to bring in for story and gather time.

The staff would like to thank you for sharing your child’s achievements on the “WOW” cards. The children are enjoying sharing and discussing their achievements with their friends and staff at gather times and this information is now being transferred into their own personal learning journeys against the Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes.

Many thanks for your continued support with all the activities we have been working on during what has been a busy first term and we look forward to seeing you after the holidays.

We look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday 26th October.

We have been part of a fantastic experience with Action for Children to promote literacy in young children, and some parents have been great in taking part in our Read and Play pilot by taking home books and doing activites relating to the stories and showing us what they have been up to, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for this, your efforts have been so creative! We have had a fantastic response in the feedback cards that have been going home in your child’s reading folder and parents have really enjoyed finding their creative side in our parent and child workshops that have been held this term.

If you and your child make or do any activities after reading their library book, or any other story book you have then please bring them in for them to show the other children at gather time,( or email photos to the school and put for the attention of nursery on them), or pop a wee note into the library folder when you are returning it with what you have done relating to this book . . you never know it might give the next person an idea how to use that particular story!!

This all links in with promoting literacy in the early years which we are working on this year. When you do an activity relating to a book you are reading with your child, whether it be a walk to look for characters from the book, draw a picture, sing a song, make a model, the content of the story is becoming more and more embedded into your child’s imagination and vocabulary. Plus, it is great fun and a good opportunity to spend one to one time with them.

Have a look in your “Play@Home” book (ask your library or Health Visitor if you don’t have one of these at home) for simple but effective ideas, and the internet is great for craft ideas relating to story books.